Stopping Water When Soldering Pipes?
I’m trying to solder a connection in an old building in which we just got the water turned back on. For the life of me I cannot figure out how to stop water from being attracted to the joint, or where it is coming from. I stuffed the better part of a bagel in there,…
I’m trying to solder a connection in an old building in which we just got the water turned back on. For the life of me I cannot figure out how to stop water from being attracted to the joint, or where it is coming from. I stuffed the better part of a bagel in there, but water still comes bubbling through. I left the nearest faucets above and below it open, and I’m not sure what else to try. Any ideas? Wonderbread?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks very for all of your responses folks.
cmu – Yes I would only ever use a plain bagel or white bread for this.
jennie – and all the best to you!
Bond – that’s some good stuff to add to my bag of tricks, I will look for that rubber stopper tool.
jeffm – that stuff looks very cool! I wonder, how does that stuff measure up code-wise?
bill – that’s hilarious, and now I know that there’s apparently no such thing as too much bread in one’s pipes.
Update: With a smack of my forehead, I just did it with a compression fit valve, and it works just fine.
Cheers,
Ryan
Bond is talking about a Jet Swet tool. They work great.
Many moons ago in a time long forgotten I was a plumber. Wonder bread is the best to use for stopping the water. I figure you have some knowledge of plumbing being as you know about this trick. We once stuffed a whole loaf of wonder bread in a 2″ copper line and sweated a ball valve on. It was a hoot when we filled the system and that loaf bomb came sailing out of the pipe.
Shark bite are good for a temporary repair. Call a qualified plumber if there’s any doubt. I recommend you call Gateway Plumbing.
Use SharkBite from Home Depot. I’m pretty sure you don’t need a dry fitting to lock the pieces on. They are more expensive than regular copper fittings but in your case it would be worth it. http://www.homedepot.com/SharkBite-Connection-System/h_d1/NCC-1701/h_d2/ContentView?pn=KH_PL_SharkBite&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053
It could be the the cut off valve isn’t working completely. Theoretically the water should only be coming from one side. You may have to sweat a new valve into place first. If too much water is coming in, the bread trick won’t work. You can freeze the pipe with dry ice first and then quickly solder it. Just make sure to freeze the pipe as far from the joint as possible so that the heat doesn’t prematurely melt it before you finish soldering. There is also a tool made specifically for this. It’s an expandable rubber plug that you can buy at plumbing supply places. You have to know the diameter of the pipe. You put the rubber plug up into the pipe that you’re soldering, tighten a spindle, which is long enough that the plug is 8 or 10 inches inside the pipe. The spindle contracts two washers, squeezing the plug, which in turns seals the pipe. You can then sweat on the valve, or a union on one side, loosen the plug and pull it out. Since you only have water coming from one side, you should be able to either close the valve that you just sweated on and then sweat the other side, or solder the second half of the union on to the non-leaking side and tighten.
i have no idea how to help you, but thank you for the crazy visual and I wish you the best.
I may be wrong, but certain breads don’t disintegrate completely in water and will cause problems … hope that was not a poppyseed bagel.